While the painstaking tabulation work of Florida's tumultuous recount is starting to wind down across the state, the legal skirmish to determine whether questionable ballots should be counted in the razor-thin and hotly contested U.S. Senate race is just beginning – and could turn on some key but arcane issues.

Ultimately, the courts must decide two questions: whether thousands of disputed ballots should be accepted as part of the count, and what the voter's intent was on the ballots deemed as valid.

If Republicans were trailing, they'd be pursuing the same tactic, said Charles Zelden, a political science professor and election recount expert at Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

"There's literally a playbook," Zelden said. "And what it says is, if you are ahead, you want to shut down the voting as quickly as possible, argue deadlines matter, argue that the rules need to be simply followed. (And) if you're behind, you want to extend the voting process, you want to extend the time, and you want to extend the definition of what is and isn't a valid vote."

That's why Nelson and his allies are suing to make sure elections officials have the time to conduct a full recount, that voter signatures on absentee ballots don't have to exactly match the signature on record, and that late-arriving ballots mailed from within the state are counted the same as overseas ballots.

In addition, Nelson wants to make sure those conducting the recount have the time and latitude to fully divine a voter's intent.

One state election rule says voters must mark ballots for any and all races in the same manner – such as circling a name or filling in an oval – for them to be counted. Another rule allows voters who make a mistake on their ballot to fix the problem by writing so-called "magic words" like "not this" or "wrong" on the ballot. Ballots from voters who cross out names without using magic words aren't counted.

Republicans have pushed back. Scott charged without evidence that there's "rampant fraud" involved in recounts in the Democratic strongholds of Palm Beach and Broward counties. Others have complained about what they view as Democratic efforts to use the legal system to gain an unfair advantage.

“The recount should happen, and every legal vote should be counted," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a video statement. "But what we should not see happen here is that somehow lawyers are able to find federal judges that change Florida election law after the election, go in and basically order the state of Florida to ignore its own laws. You cannot change the rules of the game after the game in order to win, because that would be stealing an election and that would be unacceptable.”

Earlier Wednesday, Scott announced in a tweet that he was recusing himself from his role as a member of Florida's Elections Canvassing Commission, which is scheduled to meet Tuesday to certify results statewide, including the Senate race.

Nelson and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on the governor to step back from any role regarding the state's oversight of the election.

I recused myself from certifying results on the Elections Canvassing Commission in 2014, and I will do so again this year. This is nothing new. Bill Nelson is confused and doesn’t even know how Florida works- I have no role in supervising/ overseeing the ongoing recount process.

Each of the state's counties are conducting a machine recount of votes in three races – governor, U.S. Senate and agriculture commissioner. Initial unofficial tallies of those races found the margin between the top two candidates within half a percentage point which, by law, triggers the recount.

If the Senate race remains within 0.25 percent after Thursday, the law triggers a hand recount of ballots that machines could not tally because of how they were filled out. In addition, Friday is the deadline for military and other overseas ballots to be counted.

If that wasn't confusing enough, Scott was on Capitol Hill Wednesday, joining Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and those who won their Nov. 6 elections for a photo op in front of the media.

"It's a lot better to have a big freshman class than not," McConnell told reporters. "And so we're here this morning to welcome our six new Republican senators who allowed us to continue our majority."

Asked by a reporter about the charges of fraud he made last week, Scott smiled and said nothing.